forest fire

A forest fire continues to burn in the Medicine Bow National Forest and forest officials say they expect it to grow. The fire is burning in a dense forest that features beetle-killed trees. Medicine Bow National Forest spokesman Aaron Voos says that recent fires that have burned in similar areas have grown substantially.

“From what we understand the fire activity is picking up. I think it’s mostly due to the hot dry weather, which is making the fuels receptive to the fire.”

Bondurant residents who were evacuated due to the Cliff Creek Fire have been allowed to return home, although some residents in the Granite Creek area remained displaced as firefighters are still working to prevent damage to about 30 structures in that area.

Some Granite Creek Residents were escorted to their homes to collect valuables and perishables.

Dry winds and a lack of rain kept the Beaver Creek fire burning hot over the weekend. The blaze is located in Colorado two miles south of the Wyoming border. It’s now grown to over 6200 acres and the local sheriff’s office says two outbuildings have been consumed in the flames.

While no homes have been lost, about 60 cabins are still in the fire’s path. Firefighters have been using sprinklers and other prevention methods to prepare the buildings in case the fire moves closer.

It might have been a wet spring, but a couple months without rain has put Yellowstone at high risk for fire. Park spokeswoman Amy Bartlett says about 50 acres of forest ignited this week in an area along the southern shore of Yellowstone Lake known as Promontory Peninsula. Bartlett says, although you can see the smoke, there are no trails or roads in the area, only a couple campgrounds usually accessed by boat.

The Lake Owen forest fire, in the Medicine Bow National Forest area, is now 80% contained the U.S. Forest service reports.

The fire covers approximately 500 acres and has caused the evacuation of nearby campers. Residents along Fox Creek Road and in Woods Landing, Jelm, and Albany are still being urged to shelter in place. Three heavy air tankers and 150 personnel are currently working on the fire.

Favorable weather conditions on Tuesday helped firefighters secure much of the blaze, and today crews expect to continue securing the line as well as assessing spot fires.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture starting a program that pays people to deliver dead trees to power plants that can convert them to biomass fuel. Large swaths of Wyoming’s forests have been killed by pine beetle infestations and some say they pose a fire danger. Todd Atkinson with the Farm Service Agency says he hopes money will give people the incentive to harvest from more remote areas.

A wildfire near Wheatland in the Medicine Bow National Forest has grown to around a thousand acres. High winds and terrain in the area have hampered firefighters in their efforts to contain it and they can’t come face to face with the blaze. Because of this Forest Service Spokesman Aaron Voos said they are taking a different approach in dealing with it.